Abstract

Mathematical Markup Language, or MathML, is an XML application for
describing mathematical notation and capturing both its structure and
content. The goal of MathML is to enable mathematics to be served,
received, and processed on the Web, just as HTML has enabled this
functionality for text.

This document begins with background information on mathematical
notation, the problems it poses, and the philosophy underlying the
solutions MathML proposes. MathML can be used to encode both
mathematical notation and mathematical content. About 25 of the
MathML tags describe abstract notational structures, while another 50
provide a way of unambiguously specifying the intended meaning of an
expression. Additional chapters discuss how the MathML content and
presentation tags interact, and how MathML renderers might be
implemented and should interact with browsers. Finally, this document
addresses the issue of MathML entities (extended characters) and their
relation to fonts.

Status of this document

This draft is work under review by the W3C HTML-Math Working
Group, which hopes it will develop into a W3C
Recommendation. Please remember this is subject to change at any time,
and may be updated, replaced or made obsolete by other documents. It
is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to
cite them as other than "work in progress". The Working Group does
have a plan below for updating this document in the light of the
comment and suggestions that they hope will come from the community
interested in the use of mathematics over the internet.

A list of current W3C Working Drafts can be found at http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR.
This document is work in progress and does not imply endorsement by,
or the final consensus of, either W3C or members of the HTML working
group.

Please send detailed comments to the Working Draft's editors. We
cannot guarantee a personal response, but summaries will be maintained
off the HTML-Math WG
page. Public discussion on features for math in HTML contexts
takes place on www-math@w3.org. To subscribe send a message to www-math-request@w3.org with
"subscribe" as the content of the subject. There in a public archive for
this mailing list.

Since the fundamental Extensible Markup
Language (XML) standard itself is not yet finished, and many
questions concerning compatibility with the recommendations of other
W3C Working Groups and de facto industry standards are not yet
settled, this document is very much of a provisory character. However,
the HTML-Math Working Group has, in one guise or another, been working
on the problems of mathematics on the Web for more than two years, and
feels that the broad areas of consensus it has achieved, in spite of
the diversity of its membership, justify the publication of a first
draft proposal for handling mathematics on the Web. We expect to make
very few emendations to the document except according to the schedule
below so as to facilitate thoughtful analysis:

10 July 1997: first revision

20 August 1997: second revision

HTML-Math WG Meeting in Yorktown Heights, 28-29 September 1997

October 1997: goal of W3C Proposed Recommendation status

Since a MathML proposed recommendation is not anticipated until
later this year, the HTML-Math Working Group is encouraging the
concurrent development of MathML software. Applets and plug-ins for
displaying MathML in Web browsers, as well as prototype authoring
tools, will be available later this year.

The HTML-Math Working Group intends further development of
recommendations for mathematics on the Web, as set out below and in its Charter.
In particular, work is under way on several matters, such as macro
mechanisms and alternative input syntaxes, and fonts. A second Working
Draft covering these and other considerations is planned for May
1998, and other materials may be expected in the interim.